Round two

[NoCarbsNoSugar]

Yeah, restaurant meals.
You can never tell for sure what's in there, even when they publish the nutritional content.
Glad you enjoyed your trip.

[OfficerJimLahey]

Yeah, restaurant meals.
You can never tell for sure what's in there, even when they publish the nutritional content.
Glad you enjoyed your trip.

Thanks, and yeah I didn't even attempt looking at nutrition info as I don't believe it. I just tried to eat some of the lower calorie options mostly, but definitely splurged a bit. I'm sure in 3 days I'll be back under 210.

[OfficerJimLahey]

Water weight left earlier than expected, 209.8 this morning.

[markprivinius]

Water weight left earlier than expected, 209.8 this morning.

Very nice, peace out water weight!

[bbowsh54]

Water weight left earlier than expected, 209.8 this morning.

So much for three days... Congrats

[OfficerJimLahey]

Thanks, fellas! Glad to have the extra weight off...didn't feel all that bloated but I guess I was. Changing work schedules may have my eating off for a day...going from days to midnights. Oh well, just going to manage it as good as I can and keep at it. Life happens. Working at nights generally lets me workout while I'm on the clock. Working days I stick to mostly working out on off days. Something about waking up around 4:15 a.m. and then working for 12-13 hours makes me not have the greatest energy to workout. I hope this doesn't sound like complaining, more just a reality that I'm pretty neutral about. I should have a couple months where I won't be traveling and am able to really put for some solid, consistent effort in the gym and kitchen. Hope everyone is doing well!

[livin101]

Sounds like everything is going well! I wouldn't worry about a few days, in fact, it probably had a positive effect on your weight loss efforts. Good to hear you are getting closer to the 200 mark. Any plans for setting new goals or are you just going to stick with the same ones?

Tried to rep, on spread

[OfficerJimLahey]

Sounds like everything is going well! I wouldn't worry about a few days, in fact, it probably had a positive effect on your weight loss efforts. Good to hear you are getting closer to the 200 mark. Any plans for setting new goals or are you just going to stick with the same ones?

Tried to rep, on spread

Thanks for posting man! I would say my goals now are to keep the slow/steady fat loss while keeping as much strength as I can...and also get back into training lower body and seeing what I can handle. I'm feeling pretty good after the injections for my herniated disc about 2.5 weeks ago. I haven't done squats or deadlifts for quite some time. I'm going to go slow and steady with that as well and monitor things very closely. I've got an appt on Monday for another possible injection. I'm wanting it, but we'll see what the Dr says as I'm feeling pretty good.

I've noticed some change in how clothes fit, how much belts tighten, and my forearms are showing more definition and some veins. It's keeping me motivated and hoping to keep things on track. I don't feel like they won't, just a matter of keeping at it.

[OfficerJimLahey]

Speaking of new goals....I should probably get my lifting organized, maybe even try out a program for the first time in my life. Right now I'm mainly doing chest/shoulder exercises for sets of 4-8, with some of the auxiliary exercises for higher reps. Back and arms I tend to do higher reps, 8-15 reps. Not sure why I'm approaching it differently.

[livin101]

Nothing wrong with throwing some new stuff in for variety. Ive been pretty motivated lately since adding a couple accessory lifts. But yea, I'd take it easy until you can configure a program around the injury and slowly build yourself back up. It takes forever, but its worth it (been there).

[phoenix4444]

Thanks, fellas! Glad to have the extra weight off...didn't feel all that bloated but I guess I was. Changing work schedules may have my eating off for a day...going from days to midnights. Oh well, just going to manage it as good as I can and keep at it. Life happens. Working at nights generally lets me workout while I'm on the clock. Working days I stick to mostly working out on off days. Something about waking up around 4:15 a.m. and then working for 12-13 hours makes me not have the greatest energy to workout. I hope this doesn't sound like complaining, more just a reality that I'm pretty neutral about. I should have a couple months where I won't be traveling and am able to really put for some solid, consistent effort in the gym and kitchen. Hope everyone is doing well!

Do you switch shifts like that often? That would be of a mind and body fuk for sure. How long does it take you to adjust to the shift change?

[phoenix4444]

Thanks for posting man! I would say my goals now are to keep the slow/steady fat loss while keeping as much strength as I can...and also get back into training lower body and seeing what I can handle. I'm feeling pretty good after the injections for my herniated disc about 2.5 weeks ago. I haven't done squats or deadlifts for quite some time. I'm going to go slow and steady with that as well and monitor things very closely. I've got an appt on Monday for another possible injection. I'm wanting it, but we'll see what the Dr says as I'm feeling pretty good.

I've noticed some change in how clothes fit, how much belts tighten, and my forearms are showing more definition and some veins. It's keeping me motivated and hoping to keep things on track. I don't feel like they won't, just a matter of keeping at it.

Nice to hear your feeling better. It is going to feel good to get some lower body work in.

Progress is great guy. That feeling of going a notch lower on the old belt, an them veins!

[OfficerJimLahey]

I'm holding off til Monday on actually doing any lower body work. I've got a Dr's appt then with the ortho so waiting for this green light. I imagine at this point it's a matter of pain tolerance, but I'm trying to be smart about things. Not always first nature to me, but I'm giving it a shot.

Hit chest and shoulders today. Previously I've done a 6,5,4 rep scheme for bench and think I'm going to give it a go again. Not sure how it'll work on a deficit but we will see. Today I completed it at 225, so for my next bench workout I'll do 6 & 5 reps at 225, and 4 reps at 235 (or at least attempt to). I won't adjust any weight until I can complete that last set. When I do, the 5 reps will be at 235, then 6,5,4 will be attempted at 235.
I think I'm going to do that also with DB press for shoulders....I was feeling pretty spent when I got to that lift today. After bench I went to Incline DB press. Did 50x6,65x6,85x6 and 85x5. I added on some sets on the seated decline press machine and seated lateral raise, ended it with an exercise for rear delts and called it a day. Pretty solid workout after a week or so out of the gym.

[bbowsh54]

I'm holding off til Monday on actually doing any lower body work. I've got a Dr's appt then with the ortho so waiting for this green light. I imagine at this point it's a matter of pain tolerance, but I'm trying to be smart about things. Not always first nature to me, but I'm giving it a shot.

Hit chest and shoulders today. Previously I've done a 6,5,4 rep scheme for bench and think I'm going to give it a go again. Not sure how it'll work on a deficit but we will see. Today I completed it at 225, so for my next bench workout I'll do 6 & 5 reps at 225, and 4 reps at 235 (or at least attempt to). I won't adjust any weight until I can complete that last set. When I do, the 5 reps will be at 235, then 6,5,4 will be attempted at 235.
I think I'm going to do that also with DB press for shoulders....I was feeling pretty spent when I got to that lift today. After bench I went to Incline DB press. Did 50x6,65x6,85x6 and 85x5. I added on some sets on the seated decline press machine and seated lateral raise, ended it with an exercise for rear delts and called it a day. Pretty solid workout after a week or so out of the gym.

Great work, Officer Jim!!! That sounds like some STRONG incline DB work after your bench press working sets... Nice pressing day.. Hope the legs feel better and get rolling next week!

[NoCarbsNoSugar]

Where/how do you workout while you travel?

[OfficerJimLahey]

Great work, Officer Jim!!! That sounds like some STRONG incline DB work after your bench press working sets... Nice pressing day.. Hope the legs feel better and get rolling next week!

Thanks, Bow! Appreciate the compliment
I was focusing on moving the DBs in a real slow, controlled motion and it gave me a great pump! I'm hoping to add a bit more weight to those in the next month, we'll see I guess!

In another thread, nocarbsnosugar's, I mentioned I was going to try making an egg casserole and here it is:

Ingredients: 10 oz red potatoes, 6 eggs, 2/3 cup almond milk, 5 oz red & green peppers, 2 oz peppers, garlic salt, pepper, cavender's
With trying this for the first time I kept it on the smaller side to see how it turned out, since I just kinda threw things together like I normally do. I sliced the potatoes and put down a layer on the bottom. I mixed the eggs and almond milk together, along with the garlic salt, pepper & cavender's. I pour that on top of the potatoes. I cut up the veggies and then put them on top, 45 minutes at 350 and it turned out pretty good.
Before

After

[phoenix4444]

That looks delicious. Them potatoes in there. Yummmmmmm

[NoCarbsNoSugar]

The dish looks delicious!

[OfficerJimLahey]

Thanks you two, after this morning of eating it I give it a thumbs up. About to do some chores around the house and smoke two tri tips, and a chicken if the weather looks like it will hold. Hope everyone has a great day!
Definitely sore from yesterday! Going slow on the incline press has me feeling it

[phoenix4444]

I can almost smell the delicious meat. I hope the weather holds out for you also. Pics please

I hear you about sore. After 3 days off lifting, OHP has me feeling it today.

[OfficerJimLahey]

And here's the meat:



I went with pecan this time for both, still figuring out what I like. I sampled both tonight and they turned out pretty damn good!
As far as the weather holding it didn't fully cooperate, but I was able to overcome that. I'm renting a place and there's a pergola on the deck that I ended up putting a tarp on top of and securing in place with some bungee cords. It doesn't look as bad as it probably sounds but when the rain came I was able to keep smoking without the rain interfering at all. Mission accomplished

[NoCarbsNoSugar]

Oh man, that meat looks delich...
On that whole chicken, did you cook it first and then smoked it, or did you just throw it in the smoker?

[phoenix4444]

Ohhh dude, thems meats are.... Lost my words at the spectacular vision.

[OfficerJimLahey]

Where/how do you workout while you travel?

I missed this question, sorry about that. Normally there's a small cardio room at the hotel or I'll do a bunch of bodyweight exercises in the room. If I'm going to be there for a week I'll try to find a place that has a decent rate for a week pass. If not, they may give a trial period you can sign up for.

[OfficerJimLahey]

Oh man, that meat looks delich...
On that whole chicken, did you cook it first and then smoked it, or did you just throw it in the smoker?

I just put it on the smoker. I've got a 2 probe thermometer. 1 goes in the meat and the other hangs in the smoker itself. I keep a wireless receiver on me that shows both temperatures so I can do other things while knowing how it's going.

[OfficerJimLahey]

Ohhh dude, thems meats are.... Lost my words at the spectacular vision.

If I get your approval on food I must be doing something right

[NoCarbsNoSugar]

Thanks for the two answers

Since I've been away, I tried to walk every day and also did some body-only exercises. It does feel good to do something different every-now-and-then.

[phoenix4444]

Question for you about your smoker. My instruction for my smoker says to run a cycle with no food first to seal it. Did you do this?

[OfficerJimLahey]

Yes I did, I think it had me run it hot for 30 or 45 minutes. It's turned out well for me, so I'd recommend it.

[phoenix4444]

Good to know. I will do it.

Thanks. My impatience tends to get the better of me. I like to skip steps and it usually doesn't end well.